NEWS - ASIA, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
NNPC to sell petrol to West
African countries by 2019
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) has said it plans to increase
its downstream petroleum sector market
shares from 13 per cent to 30 per cent,
thereby expanding its retail operations
across the West African subregion by 2019.
The announcement was made by NNPC’s
Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru
at the inauguration of the board of one of
the corporation’s downstream companies
– NNPC Retail, earlier this month. Baru,
also disclosed that the NNPC would in the
course of the period build more products
depots to add to its existing 23 depots scattered
across the country. This, he explained
would help ease products supply and distribution
in the country. In his speech to the
board, Baru said the company should be
seeking to expand its operations beyond
Nigeria, he said: “By mid-2019, you should
be having plans to go into the sub-region,
this board should propel NNPC Retail into
a new height.” In his statement Baru also
applauded NNPC Retail for their strong intervention
in providing petrol in Nigeria at a
time he claimed other downstream players
were playing underhand games to create
artificial scarcity in the country.
India adopts ‘bigger is better’ model with ONGC-HPCL deal
India’s ambitious move to allow state-owned
Oil and Natural Gas Corp to take a majority
stake in state-owned Hindustan Petroleum
Corp Ltd will create the country’s first integrated
state-owned oil major, giving the
combined entity an edge when competing in
international markets. With ONGC firming up
plans to aggressively push oil and gas production
at home, analysts said that the move
made sense as it would help the combined
entity to have a better grip across the entire
value chain, from exploration to retail, at a
time when domestic demand is set to grow
rapidly.“Effectively, the Indian government
is endorsing a model of ‘bigger is better’ as it
seeks to create companies which can champion
Indian energy needs both domestically
and globally,” Bernstein Research said in a
domestic paper. “The objective is to create
bigger companies with more stable cash
flow profiles which can better meet India’s
long-term energy needs,” it added. ONGC
said earlier in January that it had agreed to
buy the government’s entire 51.11% stake
in HPCL and the transaction would be completed
by the end the month. The strategic
sale requires ONGC to pay around Rupees
370 billion ($5.8 billion) for the stake Both
ONGC and HPCL are listed on the Bombay
Stock Exchange and the deal has been exempted
from open offers as both companies
are state-owned “The integrated entity will
have the capacity to neutralize the impact
of volatility in global crude oil prices and will
have the advantage of having enhanced
capacity to bear higher risks and take higher
investment decisions,” said oil minister
Dharmendra Pradhan.” HPCL will continue
to be listed as a separate entity on BSE for
some time even after the acquisition is completed.
In addition, HPCL’s management will
be allowed to make commercial decisions
in the initial years. ONGC will also retain the
HPCL brand in the retail space.
PV Oil courted by International oil majors
The race to become a strategic partner of
PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil) is
heating up. At a roadshow in Ho Chi Minh
City in January, the firm revealed that it is
now being courted by eight hopeful investors,
six of which hail from overseas.
The foreign potential partners are major oil
corporations from around the world: Royal
Dutch Shell (UK/Netherlands), Kuma
(Switzerland), SK (South Korea), Idemitsu
Kosan (Japan), Kuwait Petroleum International,
and an undisclosed firm from the
Middle East. The two Vietnamese investors
in the race are SAM Holdings and Sovico
Holdings. The winning bidder can buy 44.7
per cent of PV Oil, which is Vietnam’s second
largest oil retailer and sole exporter of
crude oil. This investor is expected to have
a strong financial background, as well as indepth
experience in the oil-and-gas sector.
According to the auction rules, the strategic
partner cannot sell their stake at PV Oil within
the next 10 years, which means they have
to show long-term commitment to improving
the oil firm. PV Oil is currently a major customer
of Nghi Son Refinery, having signed
agreements to buy products from the latter.
With a significant PV Oil stake, Idemitsu
Kosan and Kuwait Petroleum International
would be likely to secure the output for the
refinery, which is soon to come on stream.
However, these two bidders will have to face
strong competition from Royal Dutch Shell.
The British-Dutch oil giant is a long-standing
player in the Vietnamese market, having first
opened a Vietnamese oil plant 17 years ago
Along with the share sale to strategic investors,
PV Oil will offer 20 per cent of its shares
to the public on January 25. The pricing will
start at VND13,400 ($0.60) a share. The oil
firm is expected to list 90 days after this initial
public sale.
CGC wins contract to build
10 fuel stations in Kuwait
Combined Group Contracting Company, a
regional commercial construction services
firm, has won a contract from Kuwait National
Petroleum Company (KNPC) to build
10 new filling stations worth KD15.47 million
($51.25 million) nationwide, according to a
local report. The new stations are just part of
the KNPC’s 19-station package, with another
contract for the remaining nine stations to
be concluded at a later date. The contract
was signed by KNPC’s chief executive Mohammad
Al Mutairi and CGC vice chairman
Raad Al Abdullah at a key ceremony held
in the presence of several top officials. The
stations will be built in a modern architectural
style that reflects the company’s modern
image, and will provide integrated and
various services.
Taiwan to phase out fuel-powered motorcycles
Taiwan has announced plans to phase out
fuel-powered motorbikes by 2035. Taiwan is
home to about 14 million motorcycles, the
highest density of motorcycles in the world.
It is estimated that motorcycles contribute
more than 20 percent of PM 2.5 discharge
in Taiwan. In response to concern over air
pollution, Taiwan launched a scheme to
control pollution at the end of 2017, banning
fuel-powered motorcycles by 2035 and
fuel-powered cars by 2040. At the beginning
of 2018, the island decided to install
3,310 charging stations over the coming
five years. Currently, there are 1,800 electric
charging stations installed and the new
facilities will bring the total to around 5,000.
Other incentives to switch to electric motorcycles
include subsidies, special license
plates, dedicated parking areas and parking
discounts. Among the more than one
million motorcycles sold in Taiwan in 2017,
only 40,000 were electric however a recent
survey showed that nearly 60 percent of motorcycle
users were willing to shift to electric.
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